Florida man dies after falling into vat of oil and grease

By

Ray Downs

Aug. 15 (UPI) -- A 61-year-old man died Wednesday after he fell into a vat of oil and grease while working on a property in Florida, police said.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said the man and a co-worker were emptying the oil and grease from a tractor-trailer into a vat at a business in Bay Lake, Fla. The man slipped and fell into the vat and couldn't get out when he was overcome by the fumes, WKMG-TV reported.

The co-worker was unable to pull him to safety.

The man, whose name has not been released, was an employee of Harvest Power, a Massachusetts-based company that converts food waste into biofuel and compost.

"This was a tragic accident," Harvest Power said in a statement. "We are all deeply saddened by the loss of this co-worker. We are in shock and grief and figuring out what happened."